The spirit of the game and the tenets of sportsmanship shall serve as the foundation for all activities.

Who We Are?

Founded in 1959, Kickers Soccer Club is a non-for-profit, competitive, travel soccer club located in Chicago's western suburbs. The club's purpose is to promote and develop an interest in soccer among young athletes by sponsoring, organizing and operating competitive and developmental soccer programs for children and young adults under the age of 23.

Kickers SC Club Philosophy

Many youth clubs and coaches emphasize winning at an early age, without teaching the fundamental skills needed for a young athlete to excel as they continue to grow and develop. Soccer players may not peak until their late 20's, so our approach to youth soccer is to provide each individual with quality instructional and developmental training from an early age and to continue this through the athletes' high school years.
The club aims to produce technically and tactically sound soccer players through a structured training program designed by the Director of Soccer.

Kickers SC is proud to provide a comprehensive club training program for all youth soccer players, whatever their ability level.

Soccer Curriculum – Possession based"...we need coaches who can develop environments in which players are encouraged to be creative and expressive without the fear of failure." – English Football Association

"At a young age winning is not the most important thing... the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence". &o"Young players need freedom of expression to develop as creative players...they should be encouraged to try skills without fear of failure". - Arsene Wenger

Overview
The curriculum is developed to work on fundamentals first, leading into skill development/refinement and tactics at the later stages. The training sessions will be run with the short term and long term goals in place.
The key phrase for the curriculum is RPM (receive, pass, move).

This can be broken down into sections and worked on in the individual session. The RPM system allows all players to understand what is needed to succeed in the team game of soccer. The fluid movement and passing allows for true development of the player with ball skill/technique, movement and timing all involved. Teams are looking to build chances and create from possession.

Kickers SC Development Diagram

Below is a link to the Kickers Soccer Club Development Diagram. This diagram shows the "Kickers Way" and our approach to developing players. The coaching staff follows a curriculum geared around this diagram.

First Touch/Control: Focusing on a player’s technical skills and perfecting control of the ball as the foundation for the skills to come.RPM: The basis for possession based soccer, getting in position to receive, the reception and movement afterwards.Principles of Play: Working through the principles of play to generate critical thinking and knowledge of the game.Small sided games: Implementing the first three steps in restricted small sided games to generate development of continual success and challenges.Games & Phases of Play: The bigger picture of implementation, creating tactical awareness and knowledge of the game in a challenging environment.Away from the game: Working continually to improve in the player’s own environment. Working to benefit the community and building character. Making decisions nutritionally and socially to maximize development.